104 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



on every hand, at the conclusion of the meeting, en- 

 couraged the guest to believe that there would be no 

 fatal doubt on any of these heads. 



Facing the On the dav after the meetin S at the 

 Real Twentieth Century Club, the chairman 



of the National Committee addressed 

 an audience at the Parker Memorial Building, and 

 there the impression seemed to be wholly favorable. 

 Much talk ensued, but the tenor of it was entirely 

 friendly and sympathetic. It was not until the meet- 

 ing at the South Congregational Church, out on the 

 Back Bay, that the representative of the new move- 

 ment came face to face with what may be termed 

 "the real Bostonese." This meeting was held Tues- 

 day afternoon, March 12. It was attended by dele- 

 gates from various organizations which stand for the 

 intellectual life of Boston and its environs. There 

 were philosophers, sociologists, political economists, 

 divinity students, and last, but far, far from least, the 

 *ypical Boston woman, of earnest but kindly coun- 

 tenance, whose bright eyes gleamed through glasses. 

 And this was the occasion when the Western Idea 

 had to fight for its life. The young men from the 

 classic shades of Harvard said they had been taught 

 that workingmen are divided into three classes as 

 follows : Those who will work, and all of these now 

 have jobs ; those who can't work, and their disabili- 

 ties would not be removed by residence in the West; 

 those who won't work, and they would be as incor- 

 rigible in one place as in another. This being true 

 and, since it was learned at Harvard, it must be true 

 what is the use of talking about helping people by 

 finding labor and homes for them in Western Amer- 

 ica? The divinity students were convinced that there 

 is no trouble with our economic conditions, but only 

 with the moral atmosphere of the times. Perhaps 

 crowding in cities is responsible for this, but to transfer 

 men to the irreligious and God-forsaken West, which 

 is one dreary waste of barrooms and gambling hells, 

 would be infinitely worse. Now, if it is well to put 

 the surplus people of the cities on the land, why not 

 do so in New England, where there is an abundance 

 of unoccupied land [lately vacated by those who 

 could not make a living on it. Ed.] But it remained 

 for the real Boston woman to bring forward the un- 

 answerable arguments. She said, " If your move- 

 ment succeeds, it will divert to the West all the 

 young men, and leave the surplus women of Massa- 

 chusetts even worse off than now." When the people 

 laughed, she impatiently protested, and said, " Don't 

 laugh, It is no laughing matter. The science of 

 sociology teaches us that this is most serious." But 

 that was not the hardest shot. She said afterward : 

 "Theie is something in the air of the West that 

 breeds financial lunacy. People who are sane 

 enough in New England go out West and become 



raving maniacs on the subject of free silver. They 

 ruin themselves and bring down all the rest of us 

 with them. Do we want to send out our people to 

 have them turn and rend us? I think we will 

 struggle along with our problems at home. 1 ' The 

 Boston Herald's account of the meeting says : "The 

 program was subjected to a somewhat searching an- 

 alysis, but Mr. Smythe had his lesson well learned.'' 



A Triumph While the National Committee has been 

 in Idaho, pushing the agitation in the East, by 

 means of pamphlets, newspaper articles and public 

 meetings, its members have also been alert and ag- 

 gressive in the West. It looks now as if 1895 would 

 be a very great year for the cause of irrigation, on 

 both sides of the continent. The favorable action of 

 the Wyoming Legislature was noted in these pages 

 last month. We deeply regret to be obliged to re- 

 cord the failure of the effort to utilize the Carey Law 

 in Oregon. No blame attaches to Chairman Brig- 

 ham and his associates of the State Commission. 

 They fought hard and well, and were unexpectedly 

 defeated at the last moment. In Idaho a triumph of 

 the most marked kind was achieved in the face of 

 the hardest conditions. Idaho, like most of our 

 Western States, has been strangely indifferent in the 

 matter of irrigation legislation. Her opportunities 

 in connection with the Carey Law are extraordinary, 

 and the friends of the cause early determined to 

 make the strongest possible effort to obtain wise sup- 

 plementary legislation. But they encountered dis- 

 appointment at the start. To their very great aston- 

 ishment, the Governor made no mention of the 

 matter in his inaugural address. Then the member 

 of the National Committee elected at Denver ad- 

 vised the chairman that he could not organize a 

 State Commissio'n, that he could not give the matter 

 the attention it required, and that opposition and in- 

 difference were such that no results this year could 

 be expected. He tendered his resignation, which 

 was accepted, and Douglas W. Ross, of Payette, 

 appointed in his place. It was very late in the day 

 to attempt to organize the forces for victory when 

 Mr. Ross was named. There was no money availa- 

 ble for railroad fares, hotel bills, telegraph or postage. 

 But the new member repaired to Boise and entered 

 with rare courage into the unequal fight. He not 

 only fought for a law, but for a good law. He scorn- 

 fully rejected offers of help on the basis of legislation 

 which should sacrifice the great principle of public 

 ownership of works when their cost has been re- 

 turned by full payment for water rights. The battle 

 lasted up to the hour when the Legislature ad- 

 journed. But victory came after all, and the chair- 

 man of the National Committee was inexpressibly 

 cheered by the receipt, while in conference with the 

 leading citizens of Boston, of the following telegram: 



